Ancient Myths & Mysteries of the West Midlands

Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

A thriving custom celebrated every year on the first Monday following the 4th September at Abbots Bromley near Stafford. Originally the festival was celebrated at the Winter Solstice. The custom centres around an ancient dance ritual involving six men with reindeer antlers accompanied by the Fool, Maid Marian (a man dressed as a woman), a Hobby Horse, a Bowman, a boy with a triangle and a musician (melodian player). The dancers travel some 20 miles around the whole parish throughout the day, performing the dance at various locations before returning to the village where the antlers are stored back in the old church for another year.
A chipped fragment from one of the reindeer antlers was recently carbon-dated by Birmingham University to give a date of 1065. It is therefore thought that the antlers originated from Danish Vickings who ruled Staffordshire at that time.

Arbor Day, Aston-on-Clun, Shropshire

Every year on 29th May, the people of Aston-on-Clun hold a festival in celebration of Arbor Day. The custom is said to celebrate a local wedding which took place two hundred years ago, but actually the festival dates back to ancient tree worship, which was once wide-spread in Britain. The festival features a costumed wedding procession, a Maypole, Morris dancing and a village fete.

Etruria - the phantom white rabbit

The north Staffordshire village of Etruria is synonymous with Josiah Wedgwoord who set up his porcelain works on the banks of the local canal and subsequently founded a new village there which was named after the homeland of the Etruscans. But the village of Etruria also became notorious for a phantom white rabbit that appeared in a secluded grove which lay close to a path way used by villagers returning home from a late night at the local hostelries.

The rabbit 's appearance was often preceded by the screams of a boy, crying piteously for help. The rabbit itself was described as being "in no great hurry" but it's ghostly white fur in the monnlight was sufficient to put the fear of God into any poor soul finding himself drunk and all alone. A courageous villager who tried to catch the rabbit one night was said to have fallen over in his efforts and dislocated his shoulder. The episode adding to the terrible reputation of the dreaded rabbit. The rabbit's appearance was connected with the spot where a 14 year old boy, John Holdcroft of Burslem, had been murdered by his friend in the 1830s. His murderer Charles Shaw was transported for life in 1834. The belief that ghosts of people come back in the form of animals was widespread in Staffordshire.

Fulk FitzWarin

Fulk FitzWarin was a medieval lord from Whittington Castle in Shropshire who is said to have turned outlaw after King John deprived his family of their ancestral lands. With many parallels to the tales of Robin Hood, legend says that Fulk FitzWarin lived in the woods as an outlaw.

Green Man

The Green Man occurs commonly in ancient carvings and sculptures, especially in old churches. It is thought he was originally a pagan fertility figure, perhaps based on the ancient archetype of the wild man of the forest. The Green Man also appeared in Gothic craftwork, Pre-Raphaelite art and even in stained glass windows. There is a theory that the story of Robin Hood grew partly out of Green Man mythology and he might even be embodied in the stories of Peter Pan and Father Christmas. On Harborne High Street there is a pub called the Green Man and he also has associations with Shropshire and Herefordshire where his image can be found at Ludlow Parish Church and at Dore Abbey. The Green Man is also known as the foliate head, because of the common image of his head surrounded by leaves and flowers, more recently there has been a giant statue of the Green Man man constructed at the Custard Factory arts centre in Birmingham.

Guy of Warwick

Guy of Warwick is a legendary character who was said to have been a page in the household of the Earl of Warwick in the tenth century. The story says that young Guy fell in love with his master's daughter Felice but could only marry her if he proved himself through the performance of marvellous deeds. It is not known how much truth there is in the legend of Guy of Warwick, but the tale of his deeds of valour was told in a 12,000 line poem of the 14th century. The poem recounts how Guy went to the continent where he fought in tournaments, slayed a giant snake and fought the Saracens in Turkey.

Guy returned to England and married Felice, although his tale did not end there. He then went off to the Holy Land on pilgrimage and on his return helped to defeat an invading Danish army at Winchester by cutting off their champion giant's head. After this he killed a monstrous creature called the Dun Cow and finally became a hermit in a cave next to the river Avon, under a cliff now known as Guy's Cliffe. He made himself known to his poor wife Felice when he was on his deathbed, she comforted him in his final hours before leaping to her own death from the top of Guy's Cliffe.

Hereward the Wake

Hereward the Wake was an exiled outlaw who led resistance to the Norman conquest in the 11th century. Hereward's base was thought to have been a wooden castle on the Isle of Ely and his insurgent activities mainly took place across the Lincolnshire fen lands. However, it is believed that Hereward was Anglo-Danish and the son of Earl Leofric of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva, so the story of Hereward also has strong connections with Coventry and Warwickshire. It is said that Hereward inherited lands in Warwickshire from his father. There is a tale that Lady Godiva wanted her son to become a monk but he quickly rebelled and became wild and wayward even before the Normans arrived in England in 1066. In Coventry there is a college called Hereward, named in his honour.

Lady Godiva

The earliest accounts of Lady Godiva's naked ride on horse-back through the lanes of Coventry on market day were written in the 12th century by Roger of Wendover and in the 13th century by Matthew Paris. Lady Godiva was a real historical person, the wife of Earl Leofric of Merica who was a powerful but unpopular member of King Canute's aristocracy. It is suggested that Leofric made himself unpopular with the people of Coventry because of his harsh taxes and unpopular with his charitable Christian wife because of his opposition to the church.

Whilst legend suggests that Lady Godiva rode naked through Coventry as a protest against her own husband, the reality may be that she performed a penance on his behalf by riding in public wearing common robes instead of the rich costume befitting her rank. In the retelling of the story from generation to generation it became implied that she was naked. Earl Leofric is said to have been so impressed by his wife's determination that he eased his tax burdens and founded the Benedictine abbey in Coventry.

In the telling of the tale another character appeared in the story, a local man named Peeping Tom who sureptitiously gazed upon the naked Godiva whilst all other townsfolk stayed indoors to spare her blushes. It is said that Peeping Tom was punished by God who took away his sight.

Mitchell's Fold, Shropshire

Mitchel's Fold is an ancient stone circle at Chirbury in Shropshire. Local legend says that the land was once home to a magic cow which gave an abundance of nurturing milk freely to the locals. Each person was allowed to fill one pail, but one day a witch named Mitchell (or Medgel) tried to cheat the cow by using a pail with sieve-like holes in the bottom but the clever cow spotted the trick and turned the witch into stone.

Rowley Regis

The Black Country suburb of Rowley Regis is the haunting ground of a young woman in white named Elaine who walks the neighbourhood of Haden Hall, wringing her hands as she searches for her lover, a young priest from Halesowen. The priest had broken his vows in meeting the young woman secretely by the River Stour. The couple were caught one night and it is said they were walled up alive on the Haden Hall estate.

St Edith's Well, Stoke Edith, Herefordshire

A well at St Edith, 6 miles east of Hereford, said to be where St Edith prayed for water to flow close to where she was building a church, to avoid her the long walk to the nearest stream. The spring came up in answer to her prayer. Claimed to have healing properties.

St Milburgh, Shropshire

A Christian lady who died in 722 AD. One day poor Milburgh was pursued on horseback by ruffians with hounds and when she eventually collapsed exhausted from her horse, blood from her injuries touched the ground and a spring suddenly flowed from the ground, sending the hounds off the scent and allowing Milburgh to escape. The miracle ensured her a sainthood and the village of Stoke St Milborough was named in her honour.

St Winifred's Well, Woolston, Shropshire

Another ancient well whose waters were once claimed to have had healing properties. It is believed there may have been a chapel over the well but nowadays there is a 16th century half timbered cottage. Woolston Well was once an ancient meeting place or moot, where local laws and customs were decided. Later the cottage was built as a court house.

The Wrekin, Shropshire

A prominent hill 8 miles south east of Shrewsbury, over 1,300 feet high. There are various myths associated with the formation of the Wrekin, one of the most popular describes how a giant with a grudge against the people of Shrewsbury set out towards the town with a spadeful of earth, intending to dam the River Severn. On the way he met a cobbler who was heading for Wellington in the opposite direction with a sackful of shoes. When the giant asked the cobbler how much further it was to Shrewsbury, the cobbler said it was so far away that he had worn out of all the shoes on the journey. Feeling disheartened, the giant dumped his load of earth, forming the Wrekin. It is said that when the giant scraped his shoes, the smaller mound formed nearby Ercall Hill.

References used in these pages:

Ancient Mysteries of Britain / Janet and Colin Bord / Diamond Books 1986

A Companion to the Folklore. Myths & Customs of Britain / Marc Alexander / Sutton Publishing 2002

The Lore of the Land / Westwood and Simpson / Penguin Books 2005